Crazy Like a Fox
by Ness-amominafandom
Summary: Kana Nakumura is a perfectly ordinary museum curator...by day. At night she dons her own mask, using the skills her grandfather taught her and hunts stolen art work. When on a mission she runs in to the Black Foxes, everything changes and she hunts them instead. When she finds them, Kana discovers that they are nothing like she expected, and is in very real danger of loosing her he
1. Chapter 1

Author Notes: I wrote this years ago back way before I even had an account here. It was kinda always just something I would read once and a while for the fun of it. then I woke up one morning and decided 'what the hell'. The story is a retelling of the main story of Kenshi's route, but with a MC who is hiding just as much from the foxes as they do with everyone else.

Remember, it's fan fiction so I don't own anything and make no money from this. Please enjoy.

I stood in the pitch black of the mansion's room staring at the painting that I had been looking for. It had taken me nearly a year of bribes and scheming, shady witnesses to find, but I had finally done it. Fugimoto was a higher up in the Japanese government, but had a reputation in unseemly underbelly of the country of being a ruthless criminal with ties to the mafia.

I smiled at the simple painting that lay before me. It had been stolen from a major museum in Kyoto nearly a decade ago when I had only been 13. It had taken a while to find, but I had done it. I slipped my hand into a hidden pocket of my boot and pulled out a thin, top of the line, pay as you go phone with a high-resolution camera. I lifted my mask, and snapped a picture, the flash nearly blinding me in the dark room.

With a few taps of the touch screen I had mailed my entire research file to Tatsuro, a dectective and my best friend's older brother. Tatsuro would know exactly what to do with it. In the file, was all my work; Overseas bank accounts, dates, times, all proving that Fugimoto was the one who orchestrated the theft of the painting nearly a decade ago. All the cops would have to do was to verify the information by their own means, likely finding more than a few somethings that I had missed, and then make the arrest. With just a few more taps had wiped the phone entirely.

I took another second to admire the painting. I'd only ever seen pictures of it before when I was in art school, and the power of the picture was overwhelming. "The love and care that the artist poured into this is clear," I whispered to myself. "This is amazing". I rubbed my arms to stave off the goose bumps that had risen as a result of the painting.

I heard the creak of a floor board behind me and darted into a corner, pulling my mask down, obscuring my face. It happened almost every mission. A house I was not used to would creak or groan or thud, and I would hide in a corner to make sure it was really nothing before moving onwards. I was not prepared, and watched with bated breath, as three figures in black walked into the room.

"It's right there Leader," the tallest figure whispered, his voice barely audible.

"Is this it Hiro?" the one I assumed was 'Leader' turned to a thin figure. There was a short pause before the one named Hiro answered,

"Yep, this is it." The tallest one reached out, and with very little effort, lifted the large painting off the wall.

"We're lucky," the tall one said. "No sensors." Leader froze and even in the near pitch black I could see that he paled, and they all looked around, peering into the dark. I knew that they were all looking for me. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding, and began to make my way to the window, as quietly as possible. The vent system had been my entry point, and I had planned on escaping the same way, but the men were between me and my three by three window to freedom. The windows weren't far. I could scale down the drain pipe and down into the yard for my get away. It wasn't optimal, the window would be alarmed, but these guys were stealing the painting had hijacked the security system.

Hadn't they?

There was no time to debate. Leader's eyes narrowed as he focused on my hiding spot.

My gloved hand reached out and unlocked the window, and the blaring alarm stunned me and I froze where I stood. I whipped my head around to the thieves and stared, but couldn't make out anything in the dark room, though I imagine they all stood there slack jawed. I mean really, what was the likelihood that I would be here at the same time as a bunch of thieves, going after the exact same painting nonetheless.

"What kind of thieves leave the security system running?" I yelled over the droning alarm, as I threw the window open. A hand grabbed me roughly and pulled me back covering my mouth with a hand the other hand firmly gripping my breast. The tall one gasped, but he never let go. My minimal self-defense training kicked in and I bit down on the hand while smashing the heel of my boot on to his toes. The man winced and let go but never cried out. His hold slackened barely, but it was enough for me to wrench myself from his grasp.

"Damn it" the tall one snapped. He reached out and I could feel his fingers graze my arm, narrowly missing his chance to pull me back. I threw myself out the open window, and grabbed the drainpipe and slid down, much faster than I normally would have.

My feet slammed into the ground after the longest five seconds of my life and I spared one glance up, and saw three faces barely illuminated in the low light. They were not going to follow me, thank god. I had never seen any of them before and would likely never see them again, but I would remember the way they all looked-shocked and impressed-and as if they knew they were screwed all at once. I smirked and waved, before I darted across the lawn to safety.

My alarm clock went off way too early the next morning. After a mission, I was usually high strung, but this time, I was in front of the computer refreshing Fugimoto's name in the internet search to see if they'd been caught. I'd left the thieves peering out a window, while I ran away. What if they'd been caught? What if they had told the police about me?

I would be so screwed.

There was a small blurb that popped up about how robbers had hit Fugimoto's house the night before. I noted with pride that Ranko, my best friend had the by line.

It was almost five in the morning before I finally threw myself into bed, and only an hour and a half later that my alarm went off. I sluggishly went around taking a shower and making my coffee, trying to get ready for the morning. I was mid-yawn when my phone rang and I could tell from the ring tone that it was Ranko. " Kana," Ranko screech in way of greeting, "You are never going to guess what happened?!" she squealed into the phone, nearly shattering my ear drum in the process.

"What happened?" I asked trying to sound excited, as I groped for my coffee cup. "Did Kuni finally ask you out?" Questions about her love life usually threw Ranko in to a completely different direction.

"No," Ranko voice grew irritated for an instant. "I wish. But no, my brother got another email from the Black Cat last night!"

"You're kidding?" I stifled another yawn.

"Would I kid about the Black Cat?" Ranko shouted excitedly. "But it gets crazier. And this is totally off the record by the way." I rolled my eyes. I was the 'Black Cat', I wasn't about to go around telling anyone what I was up to whether it was from a secondary source or not.

"As you know the Black Cat has been tracking pieces of art that were stolen and emailing the info to Tatsuro," Ranko continued her monologue. She'd developed this annoying habit of repeating information that she knew I was already aware of. She blamed it on the way she had to write her pieces for the newspaper.

Personally, I think she just likes the sound of her own voice.

"Tatsuro even came back from his training in the US to work the Black Cat case," She continued, They've recovered a ton of stuff because of him, but are still searching for his identity since the breaking and entering he does is still way illegal." I smiled, _At least they're still looking for a man,_ I thought. "Anyhow, seconds after he got the new email, an alarm went off and the police responded. It turns out that the Black Foxes stole the very painting that the Black Cat had gone out of his way to track down.

"The Black Foxes?" I asked barely containing the irritation in my voice. "They stole the painting?"

"Yep," Ranko said excitedly. "The noble thieves! The modern Robin Hoods!" I could tell from the years I had known her that Ranko was off in lala-land imagining hot, well-toned men, robbing the rich and giving to the poor. "Can you believe it?" she asked snapping me back to reality. "I guess you won the bet."

"What bet?" I asked. I couldn't have cared less about a won bet even if I did remember what she was talking about. All I could see was a red haze of rage. All that time, all of the work, all the money I had put into the case had been for nothing.

"Don't you remember?" Ranko laughed. "I said that the Black Cat and the Black Foxes were working together, and you bet me lunch that they weren't. There is no way would the Black Cat go through all the effort of sending that file to my brother, if he knew the Black Foxes were going to steal it."

"That's true. I want burgers by the way," I said with a laugh even as I clenched my teeth. I knew that Fugimoto was going to walk. All of the evidence I had wouldn't be enough for a conviction, the police had to find the painting at his house. I wanted to scream.

"Damn," I exclaimed suddenly slamming my fist down on the counter in front of me. Ranko went silent on the other end of the phone, surprised by my sudden vehemence. "Sorry, I have to go," I said quickly trying to find an excuse for my outburst. "I'm going to miss my train." I covered quickly.

"OK, call me later," Ranko said as she hung up. I sunk into a chair in dismay and glanced at the clock, wondering if I should just call in sick. I shook my head and grabbed my coffee before running to the train station. I knew my next step and it was to take down the Black Foxes.

It had been almost a month since the debacle at Fugimoto's house, and I was getting nowhere…very, very slowly.

I never stole anything as the Black Cat. I gathered intel and sent it off to the police so that they could make the arrest. I knew what I did was still illegal, but I slept better at night knowing that I wasn't stealing anything. Kind of like Batman-well without all the fighting, and the awesome gadgets, and all the money. But that thought helped me do what I felt in my heart had to be done. I helped the police, I didn't steal stolen art in a bizarre attempt to prove that stealing was wrong. It just all seemed so backwards to me.

But that was of no use to me now. No matter who I contacted, no matter who I bribed, no matter what shady part of town I went to, no one knew anything about the Black Foxes.

It was more than a little frustrating.

How could they leave no trail for me to follow? I knew they were good, but until now, I had no idea just how outclassed I was.

When not desperately seeking any information on the Foxes, I threw myself in to my work at the museum. It was my love of art that had brought me to my rather unconventional extracurricular activities. I had always loved art, something I had inherited from my great-grandfather Seio Nakumura. He was hailed as the 'Japenese Leonardo Davinci' a brilliant artist and inventor. In college I had gotten a degree in art, with an emphasis in preservation. Just before graduation, one of Gramps paintings had been stolen from a museum that my family had lent it to. The police had no leads, and I knew who had actually done it. An art collector had been trying to buy it from us for years. Even being told this, the police couldn't do anything. Gramps had taught me how to pick a lock when I was little, and I just kind of taught myself from there. It definitely helped having a friend on the force to suss out the best way to not get caught.

I had been lucky enough to get a job at the museum right out of school, and I love every second of it. We had just gotten a new exhibit, a golden tiara, in at the museum, and I had thrown myself into setting up the exhibit. Pulling other pieces from the princess in question, gathering historical facts and setting it up. I had been working so hard that many of my co-workers began to suspect that I had broken up with someone. I was not about to correct them. Better they think that then I was living a double life, desperately looking for any clue that could lead me to the most notorious thieves that Japan had seen in decades.

Finally, it was opening day, and I hadn't laid eyes on my work at all. My bosses had me conducting press interviews about the new exhibit, which were more exhausting than anything think that I had done to prepare the exhibit. I made my way down the long exhibition hall after closing, saying good night to my colleagues as the left for the night. The security guard tipped his hat to me as he walked by in the opposite direction. It was not at all unusual that I was the last person to leave at night-especially lately.

I stood in the middle of the exhibition that I had so painstakingly pulled together and sighed happily. "At least this part of my life is going right," I muttered as I stared at the tiara, the inspiration of the whole thing.

I loved my job.

There was nothing I would rather be doing than this, preserving art, protecting it. I may have inherited my love of art from my Gramps, but I had done this. Created an exhibition, preserved this small piece of art, this small piece of history and I knew that Gramps would have been proud of me.

Absentmindedly, I twisted the ring he had given me around on my finger as I walked to the large case holding tiara. I meandered around the hall staring adoringly at pieces and lost track of time entirely, taking in every little detail I could.

Muffled voices in the main hall of the museum caught my attention. I scowled, glancing down at my watch, I should have been the only person in the museum at the moment, and the guards weren't scheduled to patrol for another 15 minutes. Without thinking, I walked turned and made my way back down the exhibition hall and to the main hall. As I drew closer I could make out two figures at the end of the hall, and I could just barely make out the familiar uniforms of the security company that we had hired. I cleared my throat, "You guys are on rounds early tonight," I called out walking closer.

Both men seemed to freeze, and turned slowly to look at me. I felt all the color drain from my face as I recognized both their faces, despite the low light or more likely because of it. "Black Foxes," I whispered and turned to run. In that moment I couldn't tell if it was just to get away from them, or because I was panicked that one of them would recognize me in return. I had barely taken two steps when I was jerked back into a hard chest. I turned my angry eyes on the tall one who had grabbed me the last time, strong arms leaving no room to escape, and found the tall one, whose name I never got staring oddly at me. He reached out and grabbed my hand seemingly transfixed by it as I struggled to get free. I tried to pull away, but his grip was way too strong, making realize how lucky had been to get away from him the first time.

"Leader look," he said as he wrapped an arm around my waist holding me close so I couldn't get away, and held out my hand to Leader. Leader's eyes danced in delight.

"It's her," Leader whispered something akin to reverence in his voice. I heard another voice call out. And Leader smiled. "Hiro get the painting. Bring her Kenny." So he did have a name. 'Kenny' released me long enough to hoist me over his shoulder before he began to run after Leader and Hiro.

"No," I screamed and I grabbed a handful of his hair, and yanked as hard as I could. He cried out in pain and his tight grip slacked just enough for me to get out. I landed on my hands just behind him and flung my body into a handspring doing it a second time to make sure I had some distance, and honestly to show off a bit.

Years of gymnastics, had prepared me for that, but not for what came next.

I turned to look and them and saw the barrel of two guns, one held by Leader and the other by Kenny. Hiro was already climbing out with the painting in tow. I glared at them, and watched them waver ever so slightly. I hate guns, my Gramps had always said that your mind was your greatest weapon. I cast my eyes about and they landed on the fire alarm. In the blink of an eye I pulled the leaver and the fire alarm blared around us. I looked at the Black Foxes with an angry scowl.

"She's good," Kenny laughed, a genuine smile on his face. And he grabbed a rope disappearing out an open skylight and from view.

"We'll see you soon," Leader smiled rakishly and winked and he too disappeared. I had to suppress the urge to call after them with some sort of parting shot.

It was terrible, but I was sort of admiring their very dramatic, if not flamboyant exit.

But even that didn't stop my outrage that they had dared hit my museum.

It was on.


	2. Chapter 2

The guards were first on the scene, and the fire department not long after. By the time the police showed up, I had plenty of time to get my story straight. It was a while before I had gotten to actually talk to Tatsuro, but I maintained my story. I was honest about most of the encounter, except that I had seen their faces, or that they had tried to kidnap me. I was going to find them, and I wanted to know why they wanted me before I did. "You didn't see their faces?" Tatsuro asked dejectedly. I shook my head.

"I'm sorry Tatsuro," I said with my head downcast. "It all happened so fast, and I couldn't really see anything. It was so dark." I had no plans to tell them that I had gotten two of their names either, these guys were mine. I'd email him the file once I exposed the Black Foxes, but until then, this was my only lead, and at this point it was a matter of pride. I had names. Now if I could just figure out who those names were attached to, I might be able to find them. The wheels in my head were already churning.

"It's ok Kana," Tatsuro stroked my hair, in an oddly intimate gesture, making my heart skip a beat. "I'm just glad that you are alright. You must be terrified." I nodded and looked down at my feet, I hated lying to Tatsuro. Partly because he was always able to tell, partly because I had spent the vast majority of my youth head over heels in love with him. But I had my own work to do now. He put me in a patrol car and a uniformed cop took me home. I thanked him for the ride and got out of the car waving as he drove off.

I chill crept up my spine, and I knew I was being watched. I looked casually around, but it was so late at night that I was the only one out. I couldn't shake the feeling, as I retrieved my mail and went inside, locking my door tight behind me. I looked through the peephole, but there was no one there. I exhaled and slumped to the ground, my back against the door. It bugged me. I wasn't prone to paranoia, so there had to be something that I had missed. I took deep slow breaths.

"It has to have been the night," I said aloud to my empty apartment. "It has to be." I had been through the ringer. I had narrowly escaped being kidnapped, and had stared down the barrel of not one, but two guns. I had spent hours talking to the police, and had lied to Tatsuro. "That has to be why I'm on edge. No one is following me. I am perfectly safe," I tried to reassure myself, but it only partially worked. I closed my eyes replaying the encounter with the foxes for the thousandth time. "Why had they reacted to my ring that way?" I wondered.

I held my right hand out in front of me to examine Gran's ring, which I wore on my middle finger. It had been my great-grandmothers, but it wasn't anything particularly special, it was sentimental. My Gramps had designed it and made it himself before asking Gran to marry him. He had given it to me only days before he died. "Wear this and it will bring you good fortune" he had said.

I rose from the ground with a sigh, and I threw my mail down on the counter where a white unaddressed envelope caught my eye. I picked it up, and slid out a card with a black fox printed on it. "We're coming tonight…" was all it said.

I dropped the card and darted to the window, gazing out and saw only a woman walking her dog. I double checked the locks, hoping that it was some sort of awful joke and went to shower this awful day off my body.

It may be strange, but I did some of my best thinking in the shower. I could stand there under the scalding hot water and my mind would make connections that I often didn't quite understand. I muttered to myself.

"Hiro and Kenny," I muttered. I tilted my head upwards letting the water wash over my face. "Not surnames," I said my thoughts trailing off. They wouldn't be dumb enough to use surnames. So these were most likely their first names. I roughly grabbed my shampoo bottle and began to wash my hair, not even paying attention to the relaxing vanilla scent that I had spent so much time trying to find in shampoo form.

I had some of their first names. It wasn't much, but it was a hell of a lot more then I had had only 24 hours ago. But there was something else, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I closed my eyes as I rinsed out my hair and liberally applied conditioner. I replayed the entire event over and over again in my memory, as I lathered up and washed the rest of me.

It wasn't until I was rinsing off that it occurred to me. "Gran's ring," I said. I tried and failed to leap out of the shower, nearly killing myself when I slipped and ran into my bedroom, where I had placed my ring before getting into the shower.

"They knew the ring," I said picking it up off the top of my dresser. If they knew the ring, then they knew Gran, if they knew Gran then they knew Gramps, if they knew Gramps…

There had to be a way to trace them that way. All of the Foxes I had seen were young, closer to my age than anything, but maybe…just maybe they had met gramps when they were children. It was the only way that they could have known about the ring. But how was I going to figure that out?

I had a bunch of Gramp's old journals and sketches that I just refused to part with. I'd read them about a hundred times, but maybe somewhere in there was a reference to a Hiro, or a Kenny. It wasn't much of a lead, but it was something.

I lay in bed unmoving, keenly aware of every sound that my apartment was making. The hum of the fridge, the dumping of the automatic ice tray, the tick tock of the old clock in the living room, each noise suddenly seemed menacing, as I remembered the plain white envelope with the simple words, "We're coming tonight…".

A floorboard creaked in the kitchen and I went ridged. Floorboards didn't creak on their own…did they? After a few minutes of nothing I relaxed again. I was behind locked doors, there was no way someone could get in. I decided to get up to check the door and windows for a fourth time, when the door to my room opened. I froze, every nerve on edge, only to be looking down the barrel of a gun for the second time that day. My heart pounded out of my chest, even as I wanted to beat the confident smirk off his face.

"No fire alarm to pull this time," Leader said quirking an eyebrow. He stood in the middle of the doorway, blocking my only escape route. Really poor planning, on my part, if you ask me, that the only way out of my room was the door or a three story drop out the window. I should have gotten a ground floor apartment_. _I looked over Leader's shoulder only to see more men. The now familiar faces of Hiro and Kenny were there, but there was a new guy, angry looking with pale blonde hair.

"What," I asked glaring at Leader, "You couldn't handle one small woman by yourself so you had to bring back up?" I regretted the words the second they left my mouth, and bit my cheek to keep from saying something else stupid. I should know better than to provoke when I'm so obviously outnumbered and outgunned, but something in him just brought it out of me.

"Where did you get that?" the angry looking blond pointed at my ring, the same one that seemed to fascinate Leader. I clasped the ring in my fist, but said nothing. I was not giving up my ring, no matter what.

"Come with us," Leader smirked, his eyes laughing at something I didn't quite get.

"Absolutely not," I shouted back, now beginning to think that the three story drop from the window didn't seem like such a bad idea.

"You don't have much of a choice," Hiro laughed from behind Leader. I scowled at Hiro, who looked so much younger than I had originally thought. I narrowed my eyes and studied them. I highly doubted they planned to shoot me at all, the guns were there for intimidation. If they only wanted my ring, they could have shot me already and taken it. Hell, they could have just taken the ring from me back at the museum. This was about me, they wanted me for something. I had two choices. Scream bloody murder and hope that one of my neighbors called the police, or I could go with them and find out what they wanted.

I was really leaning towards option number one, until I realized that this was precisely the lead I needed if I wanted to take the Foxes out. If I went with them, I could figure out who they were, if I figured out who they were, I could get that info to Tatsuro…

My eyes shifted from one face to another, hoping to see something there that I could trust. They could kill me the second I left the building. My eyes landed on Kenny's face, his face was hard but his eyes pleaded with me to trust them. Was I developing Stockholm syndrome already? Could you develop it this quickly? I sighed heavily and against my own better judgment, I threw the covers from my body and stood up. A ripple of panic went through the group of men and I was pleased-much more than I care to admit that they clearly thought I was a force to be reckoned with.

"I'll get dressed," I snapped in resignation. They all chuckled and turned their backs. "Get out."

"Not a chance kitty cat," Leader chuckled seductively. I stiffened at the nickname that my great-grandfather had used for me. It was a large part of why I had chosen chosen Black Cat as my alias. Kenny smirked.

"We know more about you than you could possibly imagine," Kenny laughed, but there was an edge in his voice "So don't bother trying to escape."

"You want me to trust you right?" I glared at him. Kenny looked at the man they kept calling Leader, and then nodded. "Then trust me, and get the hell out of my room," I hissed. I locked eyes with Leader, as if daring him to shoot me while praying that he wouldn't. He chuckled bitterly, and lowered his gun,

"We'll wait in the living room," Leader said with a smirk. "Don't make me regret this decision."

"If I have my way," I scowled, "You are going to regret a lot of your recent decisions." Leader chucked again, and the four men left me in the relative privacy of my bedroom. I heard one of them say "Firecracker," as the door closed quietly behind them, and my knees gave out. I sunk to the bed for a few moments, shaking uncontrollably. Twice in the same day I stared down the barrel of a gun, twice in one day I had been at the mercy of the Black Foxes, and dammit-I wanted to know why, even if it was to satiate my own curiosity.

_Curiosity killed the cat, _my own thoughts teased me. I took a steadying breath and dressed as quickly as I could, hoping that none of the strange men would suddenly decide to walk in. I threw open the door, a smug smile on my face as they all flinched. I held my head high as Leader put his hand on the small of my back and urged me toward the front door. They lead me out of my apartment and down the stairs into a van. I sat in silence trying to look angry and petulant and not at all as if I was about to throw up, as they drove off into the night. Kenny sat next to me in the van, his gun visible in his holster.

"Don't worry," he whispered kindly to me. "This is not what you think." I scoffed. I wasn't worried about the Black Foxes, they had ample opportunity to do any number of terrible things to me, but they hadn't. They weren't bad guys as far as criminals went, I however had to be cautious. If they knew about Gramps nickname for me, could they know that I was the Black Cat? I was always so careful, wearing a mask and gloves, wasting money on expensive burner cell phones and always paying in cash and always tossing them after my mission was over.

I shook my head, there is no way that they could have known about my extracurricular activities. If they did they would have said something. It would have been easier to abduct me using blackmail to make me go quietly. I looked around the van, Kenny was sitting next to me while Leader drove. The angry blonde sat shotgun plunking away on a laptop and Hiro sat across from me. I could see all the high tech surveillance equipment that had all been bolted to the workbench.

I sighed heavily and Hiro laughed, "Don't sigh like that Kana," I looked up at him with a curious look. "You'll let all the happiness out." I rolled my eyes and glanced at the angry blonde again, he shot me a dirty look and then resumed plunking away rapidly at his laptop.

"Lay off her Takuto," Kenny laughed kindly.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" I muttered to myself.

"Did you say something?" Kenny asked looking down at me kindly. I shook my head furiously and cast my eyes down at the floor for the rest of the ride. I had to be careful. Years of talking aloud while trying to piece together puzzles were finally catching up to me at the complete wrong time.

But Kenny had clearly figured it out, "Don't mind Takuto, he gets weird around pretty women." I had to force myself to keep a scowl on my face and not blush. The compliment had taken me completely by surprise, and this was very much not the appropriate place to be flirting. I tried my very best to send Kenny a withering glare, but was fairly certain that I missed my mark when he smiled before turning his attention to Hiro.

The van stopped and I was ushered out. My jaw dropped as I looked around for the name of the place and laughed aloud, almost doubling over from hysterics. I had taken three years of French in college and had spent some time abroad, and this was just too good.

What's wrong with her?" Hiro asked. There was a long pause while I giggled uncontrollably.

"Le Renard Noir!" I shouted between gasps. "The Black Foxes hideout is a restaurant called "The Black Fox,"

"Best to hide in plain view," came a voice I didn't recognize at all. I looked up, wiping tears from my eyes, fairly certain the reason for my hysterics was entirely fear related, and saw a man coming out of the closed bar. "She cause much trouble?"

"Nothing we could handle Boss," Leader said tossing him the keys in a casual motion. I suppressed the urge to kick him and turned my glare at to the newcomer.

"Welcome Kana Nakumura," Boss said with a sweeping gesture that clearly meant that I was supposed to go inside. I quickly looked around for a possible escape route but knew that Kenny was standing right behind me, and it was unlikely that I would get very far. I may be good at breaking and entering, and have a great grasp of gymnastics, but there was no way my basic self-defense classes would be enough to get me away from these guys when I was so grossly outnumbered and they were all on edge waiting for me to run. Adopting an air of annoyance, despite my fit of giggles only a few minutes ago, I walked in to the bar.

I stood near the kitchen and watched the Black Foxes, who all seemed oddly relaxed considering they could now add kidnapping to their rap sheet. "Come on Kana," Hiro called and he gestured at the empty seat next to him.

"Yes sit down," Boss called. "We've got a lot to talk about." With no other options, I slid into the empty seat.

I ran my fingers through my hair. "This is all just too much," I said. The table was silent. I scanned all of their faces for some sign of deceit but found nothing. "You're all telling me that someone is after something of Gramps', and that you want my help to steal it before they get it. But you won't give me what, who, or where and you expect me to just uproot my life and live here."

"Well," Boss aka Astumu smiled. "Not necessarily here. Depending on who you choose to be you're, well babysitter for lack of a better term, you'll likely stay with him."

"That's so much better," I crossed my arms irritated, "I'll just be expected to move in with a guy I don't know, who I just met and to top it all off is a criminal?"

"Thief," Kenny, whose name was apparently Kenshi corrected me automatically.

"There's a difference?" I asked obstinately.

"Yes," Riki, who they all called Leader responded. I sighed, burying my face in my hands. My Great-Grandfather was a genius, he was a skilled painter and a brilliant inventor. I knew that a genius like his could have come up with anything really. But the fact that no one seemed to be willing to give me details was really grating on my nerves. It was like they didn't trust me with the information, but expected me to trust them anyhow.

"Listen Kana," Atsumu leaned forward, elbows on the table. "I know this a hell of a lot to ask. Please believe me when I say that, it is too dangerous for you to be out there on your own. You're grandfather wanted us to protect you."

The guys had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gramps had known them and their grandfathers, and that he had entrusted the protection of some of his more controversial pieces to them, and in turn, their grandchildren. Photos and letters all sat before me on the table, and I could see my great-grandfathers tidy scrawl on the papers and in the journals. But this wasn't about or them.

This was about Gramps.

I had to set all the crap aside and focus on Gramps. He would have been devastated to know that someone was willing to go to such great lengths to steal something of his. "I can't let that happen to Gramps legacy," I sighed. "I can't." I looked up and saw such kindness on all of their faces, and I knew my decision had been made, Stockholm syndrome it was then. "Fine. I'll help however I can." And if I played my cards right, and if they pissed me off or were lying to me, I was in the perfect position to get enough information on them to put them away for their crimes. Two birds-one stone.

"Now to the bigger question," Riki flashed me a seductive smile again. "Who's going to look after you?"

I glared at him trying to use annoyance to buy time. I had no idea who to choose. My eyes met with Kenshi's and I remembered how nice he was in the car, how sweet he was being despite me being as cold as I possibly could. I felt I could trust him, though I'm wasn't entirely sure where that feeling was coming from. "Kenshi," his name was out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

"Me?" Kenshi asked somewhat perplexed.

"Aw Man," Hiro pouted. "I really wanted her to pick me."

"Don't be a sore loser," Atsumu chided Hiro.

"Come on," Kenshi rose from the table and walked past me, "Let's get back and get some of your things before we head to my place." I sighed heavily before I stood up and followed Kenshi to the door where he shot Atsumu a meaningful look before opening the door for me. I smiled a little in spite of myself-I couldn't remember the last time that someone had done that for me. I muttered my thanks, and we made our way back to my apartment.

"This is cute," Kenshi said as he stood in my living room watching my throw stuff in a bag. Despite the chit chat, Kenshi seemed on edge, and he kept absentmindedly touching the gun in its holster. I tried to ignore it while I grabbed clothes and some toiletries. My files for my ongoing investigations were on my laptop, so I snagged that and the cord and shoved it in a bag, when my eyes fell on the brand new burner cell that I was using. I glanced at Kenshi who was looking out of the window with a stern expression on his face, and I snatched it and shoved it in my bag too. It was password protected, and would erase all the data if someone plugged in the wrong password. I really didn't think that the Black Foxes were on to me, so I felt it was safe to bring.

"Ok let's go," I said from behind Kenshi who simply nodded and lead the way out. I cast a glance at the box of old sketches and journals that I had pulled out before I went to bed. I couldn't bring it now, but I did hope to come back for it soon. I locked the door behind me wondering when I would be back…if I would be back. With a deep breath I hurried down the stair to catch up with Kenshi was already waiting at the bottom of the long staircase.

"You don't mind walking?" Kenshi asked with a smile taking my overstuffed bag from my hand. I shook my head, my eyes locked on the bag in his hands. The bag that had everything about my other life in it. "I don't live too far from here."

"Are you sure you want to carry that?" I asked. "It's a little heavy."

"It's not like I'm going to run off with it," Kenshi laughed. I gave him a look that clearly said I didn't actually believe him, but that only made him laugh a little louder. "It's not that heavy. And I feel like I sort of owe you. We did kidnap you a few hours ago."

I rolled my eyes "So you're playing the nice guy card now," I muttered to myself.

"Did you say something Nakumura?" Kenshi asked startling me out of my reverie.

I inwardly cursed for talking aloud again. "No," I said. "It's nothing. I just always thought that criminals would be lacking in basic manners," I tried to laugh but it sounded forced, even to me.

"Thief," Kenshi replied automatically a small smile on his face.

I rolled my eyes, "You're really particular about that aren't you?"

"Yep," Kenshi chuckled.

"Well," I said, deliberately picking a fight to keep my distance from him. Gods help me if he wasn't charming. "What you do is still illegal, so I guess it doesn't matter what you call it."

"The Black Foxes don't steal for profit," Kenshi said in a matter of fact tone. "So we're not really criminals. We steal art that has been stolen and return it to its rightful owners." I opened my mouth to argue but couldn't find the words. He was right, technically, what he did really wasn't all that different from what I did as the Black Cat. "It's kinda like the Black Cat," Kenshi said as if reading my mind. "She doesn't steal anything, but the breaking and entering she does is still illegal."

"She?" I didn't even need to feign surprise. "Are you saying that the Black Cat is a woman?"

"Yeah," Kenshi laughed. "We always assumed that she was a guy too. But we…uh…ran into her recently. It was quite a shock." Kenshi's voice seemed distant. I blushed again and felt slightly bad about biting him, until I remembered the feeling of Kenshi's hand on my breast, but I was relieved that the Black Foxes hadn't put two and two together…yet. "Here we are." Kenshi said brightly.

I looked up to find that we were in front of a massive very traditional Japenese house. "Oh my god," I said. "I've been here before. This is Kikufugi." Kikufugi was an incredibly popular, high end, traditional Japanese restaurant. I had been there for a work Christmas party only a few months ago.

"Yeah," Kenshi smiled as he unlocked the door for me and opened it. "My family has owned it for years."

"Do you work here then?" I asked looking around at the darkened entryway.

"Only sometimes," Kenshi said leading the way up a flight of stairs to a long corridor with several rooms. "I work at the fire station, but sometimes my mom needs me and I pull a shift in the kitchens for her. Bathroom's at the end of the hall." He said pointing, and he opened a door to a traditional Japanese room.  
You'll sleep here. I'm the room right next door."

"This place is huge," I mutter. I walked to the window and looked down. Once again it was too high to jump, but I might be able to climb down, if there is some kind of problem. I reached out to touch the window and quick as a flash, Kenshi had a gentle grip on my wrist. I struggled against his hand, instinctively and he pulled me a little closer, placing his other hand above my waist effectively holding me in place.

"Don't," Kenshi leaned in and whispered in my ear, his voice somewhat pained, but stern. "As far as I'm concerned, as long as you don't let on what's actually happening you can live your life however you want." I was a bit surprised by this, but he went on. "But don't run away. It's not safe." His breath on my ear made me desperately want to shiver, but I suppressed the urge, and instead turned on the spot.

I had expected him to intimidate me, try to force me to stay. I had a feeling it's what Riki would have done, but not Kenshi. His eyes begged me to stay. I hadn't expected this. I cleared my throat and nodded. I felt his grip on my wrist soften and felt him take a deep breath, before he removed his hand from my waist. "It's really late," he said ruffling my hair as if I was an exuberant child. I batted his hand away and automatically smoothed my hair back in place. "Get some sleep," and with that he left me in a strange room to try and get some sleep.

"As if I'm getting any sleep tonight," I muttered to myself, wondering after my 'would be captor'. "Maybe I made the right choice."

Kenshi walked to the end of the hall, and opened the bathroom door, making sure to lock it behind him. He knew that the others would have handled that differently, but it didn't feel right to threaten her or force her to do anything. He had watched as she'd peered down to the ground under her window, and knew exactly what she was thinking. He could have done what Riki had suggested and kept her in his room, where he could keep a closer eye on her, but that would have required a very different cover story for his mom.

He rubbed his eyes and stared at his reflection in the mirror. "You're in deep shit Ken," he whispered to himself. He remembered how warm she was with his hand on her, and his heart sped up. He loved that spark of defiance in her eyes anytime someone 'told' her how things were going to be. She's stared down Riki while he held her at gunpoint as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He wondered if it was shock that was keeping her going, or if it was something else. He gripped the side of the sink as he thought about her. She was short, only maybe passing 5'4, long dark hair cascaded past her shoulders and over creamy skin. Her eyes were dark and somehow could see right through him.

She was beautiful and he wanted her.

He kept telling himself that had been a long time since he'd been with a woman and that's why she was affecting him so much. He looked up at his reflection. "She's one of us now," he whispered to himself, staring intently at his reflection. "Just one of the guys."

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he grabbed it grateful for the distraction. "Yeah," he snapped.

"Sorry," Riki's voice came over the phone. "Am I interrupting anything?" His voice was suggestive.

"No," Kenshi snapped. "What's up?"

"He found her," Riki said. Kenshi took a deep breath and instinctively glanced back down the hall at the closed door, the light still shining underneath the door. "We got her out in time, but Takuto found that her file was accessed at the museum tonight. Oddly, right around the same time we met Kana."

"She can't go back to the museum," Kenshi said leaning back against the sink shaking his head.

"She really can't," Riki agreed. "Boss is already on it. But it's not going to be pretty."

"I can imagine," Kenshi rolled his neck, hoping to relieve some of the tension.

"You still think it's a good idea not to tell her?" Riki asked. "About, everything I mean."

"Yes, I do," Kenshi answered his voice sounding tired. "It's best that she doesn't know. She's…" he paused, several words floated to the front of his mind, but none of them were the one he wanted. "She's normal, what do you think she'd do if she knew what was really going on, why she has to live with me, why she can't go back to work."

"You sure?" Riki asked. Kenshi didn't have to say anything. "OK. But you need to figure out something to tell her in the morning. She's going to be pissed that she's not working at the museum. Doubly so when her things arrive from her apartment."

"I'll figure something out," Kenshi sighed. Riki hung up, and Kenshi suppressed the urge to hit something. Instead he made his way down the hall back to let his mom know about their new house guest. She didn't say much but the way she stared at him gave him the impression that she secretly hoped they were dating. "Sorry mom," Kenshi laughed quietly as he left her room, "She's just a friend." He didn't quite believe the words he'd spoken, and if the look his mom gave him when he left her room was any indication, neither did she. Kenshi trudged the hall back to his room, and was up until dawn trying to come up with a plausible reason why she couldn't go back to work in the morning, before falling into a restless sleep.


End file.
